The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, publicly presented Spain's first Feminist Cooperation Strategy on Tuesday, 13 January, at the Ministry's headquarters. With this strategy, Spain reinforces its commitment to defending gender equality and transforming the power structures that perpetuate discrimination.
During the presentation of this Strategy, which was approved by the Council of Ministers on 9 December and which prioritises, from a cross-cutting approach, equality, empowerment and the eradication of violence against women and girls, Albares stressed that, with this text, “Spain is contributing to building a more just, equal and sustainable world, where men and women have equal rights”.
The minister used his speech to emphasise that the document is a “declaration of principles’” and constitutes “a transformative roadmap at a crucial moment for the world, when we are witnessing serious setbacks in terms of gender equality and access to sexual and reproductive rights”. The Foreign Minister also sought to highlight the feminist foreign policy promoted by a feminist Government, “because defending feminism is another way of defending equality, freedom and, therefore, democracy”.
Actors involved
The event, held at the Marqués de Salamanca headquarters and attended by representatives of international organisations, cooperation actors, civil society and universities, took the form of two dialogues, moderated by the director of the AECID, Antón Leis, and the Director General of Sustainable Development Policies, Sergio Colina Martín, in which they reflected on feminist cooperation in the current context and on the opportunities and challenges it poses for Spanish Cooperation.
The first panel featured Bibiana Aído, Regional Director of UN-Women for the Americas and the Caribbean; Raquel Lagunas, Head of Gender Equality at UNDP; and Chiara Adamo, Director of the Gender Equality Unit at the European Commission's DG INTPA.
The second dialogue featured Beatriz Coto Rodríguez, Director of the Asturian Agency for Development Cooperation; Penélope Berlamas, Vice-President of the Spanish NGO Development Coordination Committee; Julia Espinosa, Professor at the University of Seville and member of the Gender and Politics research group at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Gender Observatory on Economy, Politics and Development; and Miriam Císcar, deputy director of Feminist Cooperation, Human Development, Economic Development and Governance at the AECID.
Four pillars
During the closing ceremony, the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados, called for international cooperation to be guided by a realistic and explicitly feminist programme that accelerates the fight for equality and human rights, “because if we don't all get there, all women, humanity won't get there”, she said.
The Feminist Cooperation Strategy, which is available on the
Spanish Cooperation website, is based on four pillars: rights, representation, resources and alliances. These pillars aim to advance the full and effective realisation of the rights of women, adolescents and girls globally, promoting female participation in leadership positions and increasing the economic and human resources dedicated to combating gender inequalities. Finally, the document advocates for the promotion of major strategic alliances that will make the promise of building a more just world for all people a reality.
For images of the event, click here